2009 Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen
So, I picked up another Jetta project. This will make my third project, and I hope this one will go much smoother than the last one. This one came from South Alabama as well. It is in much better shape than the Wolfsburg, but this one has been sitting with a broken sunroof for a while. The floorboards are full of water, and the interior has mold everywhere.
Of course, it has the usual MK5 interior flaws. The headliner is falling, but the seats and door panels are in decent condition, but I will not know how much of the interior will have to be replaced or repaired until I get it torn down. But I am hoping for the best. That is what killed me on the Wolfsburg project, having to replace many major and minor parts, which ate up a lot of my time and budget, not only on the interior but the exterior, engine, and transmission.
But so far, the exterior looks to be in great shape. The rear corner bumper and right tail light are damaged, which are easy fixes; otherwise, it has no major body damage or dents. The biggest issue is the sunroof, and the windshield is cracked in several places. And I do not know how much damage the water caused or what electrical issues I will find, but the good thing is it does run, so that’s a plus. I am excited about this project because it’s a wagon, and I think this one will turn out great after it is all finished.
Exterior Walk Around
Interior Walk Around
Tear Down
Clean Up
After pressure washing, scrubbing, clay baring, and three rounds of polishing, the exterior and interior look almost brand new. I still have a long way to go before I am even close to being finished. The sunroof is the biggest setback to this project. After removing the whole assembly, I discovered that the cable was broken, and because of that, it damaged the frame. So I will have to replace the whole frame assembly, and it is not a cheap part. So that will take away a lot of my budget that I would have liked to use on upgrades.
Findings
Before tearing down the Jetta, I went through all the systems, did a full scan, and checked every door, lock, light, and operation of all the accessories. Unfortunately, I did find quite a few discrepancies. A lot more than I was hoping to find. The scan came back good though there were not a lot of fault codes. I did find that some of the lighting and accessories did not function just from physically checking the function of everything. The front windshield wipers did not work, nor did the front washers, but the rear did. So I did a quick check, and I did have power and ground going to the windshield wiper motor. The driver’s side rear view mirror did not adjust, nor did the turn signal indicator work.
There were no major oil or coolant leaks or major mechanical issues. Just minor cosmetic and the few electrical issues that I mentioned before. It did have a brake pad warning light on the instrument cluster, but I had already planned to replace the pads and turn the rotors anyway. I found the driver’s seat electrical connector corroded and two wires broken. Along with the interior inspection, I also noticed the instrument cluster display faded as well as the radio display faded and what looks like UV or heat damage to both the cluster and radio.
